May 22 (Bloomberg) -- John Paulson’s Paulson Credit
Opportunities Fund topped the list of 100 best-performing hedge
funds over the past three years, Barron’s reported.

The $4-billion portfolio, part of the New York-based
Paulson & Co. Inc.’s $32 billion of assets under management,
returned almost 123 percent annually, the weekly newspaper said
in its May 24 edition.

Paulson’s fund was followed by the $1-billion Balestra
Capital Partners, run by James Melcher, which posted an annual
return of 65.6 percent. James Simons’ $9-billion Medallion Fund,
which returned 62.8 percent, took the third spot on the list.
The $1.2-billion Element Capital, which returned 45 percent, and
the $333-million Providence MBS Offshore, with a gain of just
over 44 percent, rounded out the top five performers.

The average return of the top 100 funds was 20.8 percent,
compared with 2.2 percent for all hedge funds and a loss of
almost 16 percent for the equity market, according to Barron’s.
Each of the listed funds advanced at least 10 percent.

The list was compiled in cooperation with BarclayHedge and
Morningstar/CISDM. The funds were ranked based on their three-year compound annual return and included funds with assets of at
least $300 million.